The Effect of Topical Corticosteroid Treatment On Myopic Regression after Photorefractive keratectomy: Long-term Follow-up

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the long-term effect of topical corticosteroid treatment on reversing myopic regression after excimer laser potorefractive keratectomy(PRK), 118 eyes of 103 patients demonstrating myopic regression of more than-1.00D were treated with 0.1% dexamethasone eye solution, and the changes in visual acuity, refraction and corneal haze after treatment were assessed. The mean preoperative refraction was -6.89D. The mean myopic regression was -1.72D which improved to +0.12D after treatment and the mean uncorrected visual acuity also improved from 0.51 to 0.92. Corneal haze of Grade 1.04 at the time of regression decreased to Grade 0.61 after treatment. All eyes showed improvement after dexamethasone treatment but among 88 eyes which underwent long-term follow-up f the average 21.2 months(6~24 months), 48.9%(43 eyes) showed at least one 1episode of repeated regression while 51%(45 eyes) remained stable. Whether regression developed again depended on the changes of corneal haze(p<0.05). This study suggest that the effect of topical corticosteroid on reversing myopic regression after PRK lasted long in a significant number of eyes, retreat mint which also would have some complications.